Region's folks stick close to home this year

Angie Muir has memories of Memorial Day with her family in Mississippi, California and Oklahoma.

But this year, Muir, who lives in Roy, is staying a little closer to home. On Thursday, she took her daughter to Hogle Zoo. Later this weekend, she will drive to visit relatives in Idaho while her husband installs a sprinkling system in their yard.

"But it doesn't really count in my book," she said of her Idaho trip, since she's not boarding a plane.

But Muir is not alone this weekend, according to a study for AAA, which found that the number of travelers in the Mountain West, a AAA-designated region that includes Utah, is down just under 1 percent compared to last year. About 2.7 million people will travel 50 miles or more in the Mountain West, according to the survey, conducted by IHS Global Insight.

Nationally, the number of travelers will increase by 1.5 percent to 32.4 million people by vehicle, air, bus, train or boat.

The local AAA office believes the economy has influenced people's decisions about traveling — despite airline price reductions that have made an average ticket cost $176 and a average gasoline price of $2.23 per gallon in Utah on Thursday, lower than the national average of $2.36 a gallon on Thursday.

"There are signs that the economy is starting to turn around, which might influence people to travel who otherwise may not have planned a trip," said AAA Utah spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough. "But economically things don't appear to have turned around enough to drive more people to travel, leading to another major holiday weekend in the Utah area where we are seeing a slight decline in overall travelers."

AAA Utah has tracked travel for the major holidays and it was down in 2008 for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, July 4.

For Muir, she's trying to adhere to a budget that she created since purchasing a new sport utility vehicle at a bargain. She and her husband took advantage of weak auto sales in recent months, which led to lower prices at dealerships.

A warning for Utahns who are hitting the roads: The Utah Highway Patrol will have an increased presence as it continues enforcing seat-belt laws throughout the state. UHP began a seat-belt blitz earlier this week and it will continue that blitz throughout the long weekend.

Troopers will also be participating in DUI checkpoints in Clearfield and Cottonwood Heights, "plus our normal patrol will be watching for DUI and seat-belt violations throughout the state," UHP trooper Cameron Roden said.